One of These Days
by Lovin' 4 Ever And Always
Summary: And she was not, she thought to herself, doing this to impress a certain Point Man. Just a little one shot. Slight A/A. Chapter 2 is now up! Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Well, this is my first fan fiction, but I've been reading it for forever! I just love Arthur and Ariadne together, and I thought of this little plot bunny along the way. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. *sigh***

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Ariadne groaned in frustration as she realized that the design was wrong _again_. She crumpled up the paper and added to the ever growing pile in the trash.

Everyone else had already left the warehouse, leaving Ariadne along to mull over the intricate designs. No matter what she did, it seemed as though she could not figure out the particularly complicated architecture.

Yet, Ariadne was determined to have everything perfect b y the time everyone arrived the next morning. Even if that meant staying up all night. And she was not, she told herself, doing this to impress a certain point man.

And so she stayed at the warehouse, glued to her chair all night. Which is why, when Arthur came in that morning (punctual, as usual), he found Ariadne asleep with her head on her desk.

Arthur was thoroughly impressed by Ariadne. She was so young yet so gifted and willing to try anything when it came to Inception. And she was dedicated enough, apparently, to stay in her uncomfortable chair, hunched over a rickety old desk all night just to finish some work that could have been done in the morning. Yes, Ariadne was unlike any other architect he'd ever worked with.

As Arthur stood there, contemplating the affect Ariadne had on him, The woman in his thoughts was slowly waking up.

"Sweet dreams?" Arthur asked. Ariadne blushed and nodded; she had been dreaming about him, after all. "So did you stay here all night?" Perhaps it was a stupid question, but he was curious as to why she would give up the comfort of her bed to stay up working.

"Um… yeah. I couldn't get this sketch right. I guess I lost track of the time." It wasn't the whole truth, Ariadne knew, but it was close enough. He didn't need to know she wanted it to be perfect for _him_. Ariadne didn't like admitting to her faults, when Arthur himself was undeniably perfect.

Arthur gave her his trademark half smile. Looking over her shoulder, he studied the design and said, "It looks good, Ariadne."

She turned around, flustered, and started tidying up her desk just to have something to do. After a few moments, Ariadne worked up the courage and turned back to where Arthur had been standing.

"Arthur, I had been wondering -" She cut off abruptly as she realized that he had already left. She felt her face heat up as she heard the undeniable smirk in Eames's voice.

"You're going to have to be faster than that if you want to get with lover-boy, darling." Ariadne glared viciously at Eames before turning back to her work once more. _One of these days_, she thought. _One of these days I'm actually going to ask him to go out_.

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**So, there it was. Just a quick little one shot. I hope it wasn't too painful. I apologize for any mistakes I might have made. And, I think the characters are a bit OOC, so I apologize for that, too. Anyway, review and let me know what you think so I can write even better stories for you!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey again. You guys and your wonderful reviews convinced me to write more! Hehe, yay!**

**So, wow. I had not been expecting all of the views for my story or the awesome reviews. Thanks and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Again, I own nothing.**

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It was obvious that Ariadne was avoiding Arthur. Every time Eames asked Ariadne to come to dinner with the team, she would ask if Arthur was coming. More often than not, Ariadne would simply head back to her tiny apartment and stare out the window at the buzzing city life of Paris. She still went about her work during the day, designing different cities for whatever job they were working on at that time, but she went about it mechanically. While the others were moving about and chatting around her, she simply sat in her chair and blasted her music, zoning out everything.

Everyone was worried - Arthur especially. It killed him to know that Ariadne was hurting and it was his fault. Oh yes, Eames had told him what happened that one morning. God knew that all Arthur wanted to do was to grab Ariadne and kiss her senseless, but he couldn't. Arthur could in no way risk ending up like Cobb and Mal. So, he also kept to himself, staying as professional as always. Yet, more often than not, he would find himself staring at Ariadne. He knew he was torturing himself, but he could endure it. He'd have to.

Everything changed when the team had a small Extracting job. It wasn't anything difficult, but as always, there was a small chance of danger. The job became more complicated when, in reality, the mark had hired guards to protect him last minute. They ended up taking Ariadne hostage.

…

_Ariadne woke up after a kick had jolted her from the dream. Wild eyed, she looked around, finding herself looking down the barrels of two guns. _Oh, shit, _Ariadne thought. One of the guards yanked her arm and tore her from the seat she had previously occupied. He shoved his face into hers and Ariadne closed her eyes, praying this was just another level of a dream. _

"_What the hell are you doing here?" The guard asked. _

_Ariadne couldn't breathe. She was in full on panic mode. No one had ever discussed what would happen if something _outside _of the dream went wrong. "I - I don't know." She decided her best bet to get out of this safely was playing dumb. She would just be the innocent bystander. _

"_I don't believe you," Guard number 2 chimed in. Ariadne turned her head to glare at him, and when she did, she noticed that Arthur was awake. As she stared at Arthur all she could think about was how humiliated she was and how if she died now, she would never get to tell him how she really felt about him._

"_Look, I -" Ariadne didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Guard One slapped her harshly. She crumpled to the floor, holding her stinging cheek. She let out a strangled sob; Ariadne had never been so scared, not even during the Fischer job in Limbo. Next thing she knew, she heard a thump, shortly followed by another and looked over to find both guards knocked out on the ground. She looked up and saw Arthur standing above her with his hand held out._

"_Damn it, Ariadne. Are you alright?" Ariadne nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment. She grabbed Arthur's hand and let him lift her into his arms. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry. This was my fault. I should have known that he hired guards. Damn it, you could have died!"_

"_Arthur, I'm fine," Ariadne said as soon as she found her voice again. Arthur bent his head into her hair, gently placing a kiss onto her head._

"_I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." Ariadne simply marveled in his presence. She had never seen the point man so emotional, so loving. She felt as though she was seeing a side of him that no one else knew about, and she knew she was blessed. "I love you."_

_The three words were whispered so quietly that Ariadne wasn't sure that she had even heard him correctly. She pulled away just enough to look at him, and repeated his words back to him. "I love you, too."_

"_Well, thank God. It's about time, you two! Now kiss and make up." Eames. Of course. He was always there to ruin a perfect moment. Ignoring Eames, Arthur dipped his head and put all of his feelings into this kiss. It was about time that he was able to kiss her senseless._

…

Ariadne now looked over at the man asleep next to her. After the job had ended, they rented a five star hotel room and spent the night, although they rarely slept. Ariadne brushed away a piece of hair that had fallen into his face. Arthur shifted, taking her into his arms once more and pressing a kiss to her forehead. To hell with the fact that they could end up like Cobb and Mal. At the moment, it was more than worth it.

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**The end! I hope it's not too short. I had a really hard time writing this at first, but eventually the writing juices started flowing and this is what happened! Leave a review and let me know what you think. Also, I'm open to requests for future stories. My idea river may have run dry. =)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**KayRay**


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